Edmontonians contribute to massive mural for Canada's 150th anniversary

Edmontonians volunteered their talents on Family Day to paint tiles for a Canada-wide muralto celebrate the country's150th anniversary of Confederation.

The Canada 150 Mosaic project involves 150 communities involved in painting tiles that will combine into a nation-wide mural as long as four football fields.

The projectis run by the Mural Mosiac team, a group of three artists who paint large murals using a combination of small tiles.

As part of Monday's Family Day events at city hall, people lined up to paint their interpretation of why Canada is important to them.

Four murals will be created from tiles painted in Edmonton, making the citythe largest contribution out of all 150 communities.

"We thought, 'How can we unite Canada through art? We spent literally about, I'd say, 10 yearsjust trying to perfect the best way to unite people through art and our mosaics,'" said Phil Alaine, the project's producer.

"Once we figured that out we think, 'We have to do this and create the biggest mural ever by uniting everybody together from across Canada for one giant piece.'"

The tiles are painted bychildren,adults who haven't picked up a brush in decades, and evenprofessional adult painters. They range from abstract styles, landscapes, wildlife, and portraits of Aboriginal elders.

Lane McMurdle, 9, knew exactly what he was going to illustrate on his tile Monday at city hall.

"I ended up painting an old lacrosse stick, and a new lacrosse stick, and the name of my lacrosse team and how long our organization has been going on," he said.

"I know lacrosse is one of the original sports of Canada. I thought it would be cool to be a part of the history of Canada."

The murals can be found on the Canada 150 Mosiacwebsite, and are expected to be unveiled on Canada Day.

@Travismcewancbc

Travis.mcewan@cbc.ca